Nearly half (48 per cent) of European
travel and procurement managers and bookers believe it will be more
expensive to travel to and from the United States with the new Trump
Administration in situ, new insight from Business Travel Show Europe has revealed.
Over
one third (35 per cent) also believes it will be more difficult to travel to and
from the United States now the Republican Party are in power, and 44 per cent agree
that President Trump’s threatened removal of climate change quotas will dilute
the pressure for corporates to expedite sustainable travel programmes.
When
asked if their organisations are more or less likely to travel to/from the
United States, 9 per cent said more but 12 per cent said less. 29 per cent of the 115 survey
respondents answered, ‘I don’t know’, leaving a potential maximum of 24 per cent to
believe travel will be cheaper now Trump is in the White House.
Business
Travel Show Europe marketing director Jonathan Carter-Chapman said: “The
Trump Administration has only been in power for two months and policies that
may affect corporate travel – trade tariffs, flight bans, possible environment
legislation, and more – are still in a state of flux so it’s impossible to know
for certain what the impact will be on travel and travellers to and from the
United States. Despite that, many travel managers are proceeding with caution
and, given the continued pressure to cut costs, are concerned.
“Our
opening session at this year’s Business Travel Show Europe hosted buyer conference is called, ‘How
geopolitics will reshape your company’s travel programme’ and looks at how the
shifting geopolitical environment will impact business travel destinations,
frequency and cost of business trips, as well as the risks travellers face. Delegate
will discover what the new global risk map looks like and how to restrategise their
travel programmes accordingly.”
ETA/ETIAS
Closer
to home, the survey also revealed that 83 per cent of respondents are familiar with the
UK’s ETA scheme and the EU’s ETIAS scheme, which will both come into effect in
the final quarter of the year. Only 14 per cent were not.
115
corporate travel and procurement professionals, EAs and PAs polled in March
2025. 78 per cent of these were travel managers, 17 per cent in procurement and 5 per cent EAs/PAs. The
geographical split was UK – 36 per cent, Europe – 47 per cent, RoW – 17 per cent.
Business Travel Show Europe returns to ExCeL London from 25-26 June 2025
and will run alongside TravelTech Show and The Meetings Show to bring together over 700 qualified buyers and 200 exhibitors for high-level, in-person networking and a premium conference
programme.
Registration is now open. It is free for travel buyers, bookers and
managers, procurement professionals and EAs and PAs who book travel for their
organisation.
READ: Trump 2.0: “I don't think our industry will come away unscathed” - Eventprofs react to the first few weeks of Trump's second term
HAVE YOUR SAY: Is Trump making you nervous about organising events in the US? Will you be modifying your approach to DEI when planning events because of the vibe change in America?
The latest Northstar Meetings Group/Cvent Meetings Industry PULSE Survey (EMEA) is now open – and we’d really appreciate your thoughts on these questions, and more besides.
